Taylor, Tuffey shine as Kiwis crush India by 200 runs

Chasing a target of 289, India were all out for 88 runs in the 1st ODI of the tri-series in Dambulla.

Written by Press Trust of India

Read Time: 4 mins

Dambulla:

India crashed to a humiliating 200-run defeat in the first match of the triangular ODI series against New Zealand with a pathetic bowling and batting display here on Tuesday.

After the Kiwis put up a competitive 288 on the board, riding on skipper Ross Taylor (95) and Scott Styris (89), India suffered an inexplicable batting collapse to bundle out for a paltry 88 in just 29.3 overs.

In what turned out to be a totally lop-sided contest, only three Indian batsmen could score double figures as the Kiwis ripped through the young batting lineup to launch their campaign on a high.

It was a commanding show by the New Zealanders who relied on a 190-run stand for the fourth wicket between Taylor and Styris before Daryl Tuffey (3/34) and Kyle Mills (2/26) and Jacob Oram (2/15) shot out India to complete a convincing win.

Chasing 289 to win, openers Dinesh Karthik (14) and Virender Sehwag (19) made a watchful start but New Zealand struck twice in as many deliveries to get rid of the openers and reduce India to 39 for two in 7.1 overs.

Sehwag was the first to go when he failed to negotiate a short ball aimed at his body by Mills as the ball kissed his glove and landed safely at wicketkeeper Gerath Hopkins' hands.

Karthik then followed suit when he played Tuffey's delivery down the wrong line and missed the ball, which struck on his pads in front of the wicket.

Rohit Sharma (4) then joined Yuvraj Singh (5) but the former was sent packing in the 10th over by Tuffey and two overs later New Zealand dealt India another blow, removing Suresh Raina to leave India tottering at 50/4 in 11.2 overs.

Sharma, brought in to bolster the middle order, ended up giving catching practice to first slip of Tuffey's outside off stump delivery.

Raina also followed his partner and edged one straight to second slip to award Tuffey his third wicket of the day.

The 32-year-old seamer came to haunt India again in the 14th over when his direct throw found skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni short of wicket as India looked down the barrel at 53/5.

Yuvraj and Ravindra Jadeja tried to stem the rot but Andy Mckay removed the former in the 17th over and eight balls later Praveen Kumar was also sent packing by Jacob Oram as India stared at an impending defeat.

Earlier, New Zealand had a disastrous start, collapsing to 28 for three in 6.5 overs but Taylor (95) and Styris (89) rescued the innings and helped New Zealand to reach 288.

Newball bowlers Praveen Kumar (3/43) and Ashish Nehra (4/47) shared seven wickets between them to strangle the New Zealand top and lower order and helped India bowl out their rivals inside 300.

New Zealand had a tottering start, losing three wickets inside seven overs with the scoreboard reading just 28 but Taylor and Styris stemmed the rot and anchored the innings to safety after electing to bat first.

Openers Peter Ingram (12) and MJ Guptill (11) started off well, clubbing a couple of fours but new ball bowler Praveen Kumar removed the latter in the third over to draw first blood for India.

Kumar's late away going delivery got the edge of Guptill's blade as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni completed a simple catch to leave New Zealand at 15 for one at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.

Ashish Nehra then got into the act and removed Ingram in the sixth over. Nehra's seaming away ball kissed Ingram's bat and Dhoni made no mistake as India reduced their rivals to 27 for two.

Kumar struck again in the seventh over when his incoming delivery pitched on the middle stump and before Kane Williamson (0) could play it, the ball moved away at the last instant and cleaned his off stump.

With their innings lying in shambles, Taylor and Styris started the rebuilding process and picked up ones and twos and slammed occasional boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Mithun was on their firing line in the 16th over, when the youngster was hit for consecutive boundaries by Taylor and Styris at cover and point respectively.

Taylor then repeated the same treatment to Ravindra Jadeja in the 18th over when he hit him for a couple of fours both at backward point.

In the 21st over, Taylor picked Pragyan Ojha for a boundary when he cut him to clear the ropes at the backward boundary.

Styris, meanwhile, slammed consecutive boundaries of Ojha and smashed Jadeja over midwicket, before reaching his fifty in the 30th over.

With both of them going great guns, New Zealand took batting Powerplay and Styris slammed Jadeja for successive boundaries in the 32nd over.

The 35-year-old all-rounder then picked up Nehra for a special treatment, sending him across the ropes.

The partnership was finally broken in the 39th over, when Ojha cleaned up Styris. New man Jacob Oram also didn't last long and was sent packing by Nehra who trapped him in front of wicket in the next over.

Just five runs short of a century, Taylor also departed when Nehra's full-length delivery straightened on to the middle-stump and found his legs.

Nehra came back to haunt the Kiwis in the next over when he had Daryl Tuffey hole out at long on to Ojha and Suresh Raina then removed last man Kyle Mills by a direct hit to wrap up the New Zealand innings.